"Mark, if you think Meizu MX3 is a great device, wait until you see its 2014 follow-up: The Meizu MX4. It's a beast of a smartphone. I promise you, it has monstrous specs and features."

That's what Mr. Adrian Lim, IT Director of Novo7Tech - the official and exclusive distributor of Meizu smartphones in the Philippines, told me during out meeting a couple of weeks ago.

Looking at photos and videos of MX4 and checking all the official details about the handset disclosed by the Chinese company last September 3, 2014, I think I have to agree with him.

I mean, from the looks of it, the device could very well become the dreamphone of a lot of geeks and gadget consumers from here on out. And why not?It's a gorgeous powerhouse that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

Measuring just 8.9 millimeters at its thickest point and clad in anodized aluminum, Meizu MX4 is equipped with a 5.36-inch 1152 x 1920 pixels IPS display (slightly wider than the 1080 x 1920 pixels screens we find on most smartphones these days) underneath scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass 3, a 20.7 MegaPixel autofocus camera with Sony IMX 220 lens, Two Tone Flash and Image Stabilization, a 4K video recorder, and a rather hefty 3,100 mAh Li-Ion battery pack.

The apparent hardware is great but it's what's under the hood that makes it a true standout in its midrange price echelon; One that's capable of beating handsets twice - and even thrice - its price in terms of raw power. Meizu MX4 is one of the first devices to be powered by MediaTek's new Octa Core chipset with Big Little Technology, the MT6595 which incorporates a Quad Core 2.2 GHz ARM Cortex A17 CPU plus Quad Core 1.7 GHz Cortex ARM A7 CPU and PowerVR H6200MP4 GPU, and supports LTE connectivity.

This SoC paired with 2 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal storage gives Meizu MX4 an Antutu Benchmark Score in the area of 48,545 -- a mark so high that Antutu couldn't help but call the handset a "Monster"! (Photos by Gadget.Letnick)

The smartphone looks great and its technical specifications are phenomenal -- but I guess anyone who has played with a Meizu device will tell you that its user interface would be the topmost selling point of the Meizu MX4. The device runs Android 4.4.4 KitKat skinned by the latest version of the Chinese company's very own Flyme UI, called Flyme 4.0. As I've shown you in my exclusive interview video with Mr. Adrian Lim for our Meizu MX3 Giveaway, the app-drawer free and ultra-cute Flyme user interface doesn't only look neat and unique but is also very intuitive. Some of the key features include gesture support for the home button, the ability to adjust brightness simply by swiping on the right part of the display when viewing photos, and the Smart Bar that changes its set of buttons depending on which app you're using, among many others.

So how much does it cost and when will it arrive in the Philippines? Meizu MX4 comes in three variants; In Europe, the 16 GB, 32 GB, and 64 GB versions will sell for 225, 250, and 300 Euros, respectively, when the product arrives there later this year. And that's where I base my Philippine price guesstimates for the handset: Php 12,999 for the 16 GB, Php 14,499 for 32 GB, and Php 17,199 for the 64 GB version. As for its availability, according to my reliable insider, Novo7Tech might bring it here just in time for your 2014 Yuletide gadget shopping -- so that's around December 2014 or January 2015.